Exhibition - "Homefront & Battlefield: Quilts & Context in the Civil War"

Museum hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 10am – 5pm.  On view from June 30 – November 25, 2012.

This year marks the beginning of the American Civil War one hundred fifty years ago.  ATHM will contribute to our nationwide conversation about the Civil War and its legacy through a traveling exhibition, Homefront & Battlefield: Quilts & Context in the Civil War.  The exhibition will use quilts, textiles, clothing, and other artifacts to connect deeply moving and insightful personal stories (private memory) about the war, its causes, and its aftermath with the broader national context (public history).

Textiles were integral to the Civil War—physically, economically, ideologically, and emotionally—and linked soldiers and civilians.  The exhibition and accompanying book build on recent scholarship in social and economic history to tell of the events that led to the war, the stories of men and women affected by the Civil War, and the opportunities and challenges that followed it. The project is intended to encourage visitors to view the war not in isolation or through stereotypes and simplifications, but in its complicated and uneasy place in the context of American history.  Through a wealth of artifacts drawn from around the nation, each with a strong provenance and embodying project themes, audiences will be able to see and acknowledge the human experiences beneath the veneer of Blue and Gray.